Not A Love Story
by CoyoteGray
Summary: A friendship thing I started with Peach and Fox back in the days of yore. Anyway, hope you like it. Oh, and the summary sucks 'cause I'm crazy tired. T for a little later. You'll see (if I get around to posting the rest).
1. Part 1: Chapter 1

It was Princess Peach's eighteenth birthday, and, of course, there was a grand celebration, but instead of enjoying herself, the Princess was looking over the party from the balcony in her bedroom.

"September twenty-first..." Peach whispered to herself. "I would think they would've remembered..."

Just then, she heard a knock on her bedroom door. Peach rushed to answer it, but to her disappointment, it was only a mail Paratroopa.

"Er, package for you, Princess," said the Paratroopa. The parcel was wrapped in what seemed like birthday-themed paper.

"Thank you," Peach politely said back, "and you wouldn't have happened to see the other contestants of the 'Super Smash Bros.' tournament, have you?"

"Er, no, ma'am," the delivery Troopa regretfully answered. After hapsing his sachel, the Troopa flew off down the hall.

Peach carried the package to her bed, and sat down with it. "I wonder what it could be?" Peach then ripped off the paper to discover a lavender photo album, with "S.S.B." etched in deep purple on the cover.

The Princess took a deep breath, and looked through the pages...

On the first page, there was a photo of her and Mario's first official kiss. The one below that was of Luigi pointing towards Bowser, for Luigi drew on Bowser's face while he was sleeping.

Page two consisted of a photo of herself, Roy, King DeDeDe, Zelda, and Marth wearing matching shirts that said "ROYALTY POWER!" The other photograph was of Link using Toon Link and Young Link as arm rests.

On page three, there was a picture of all of the Pokemon and Red, and a photo of Falco pulling the hand-full-of-shaving-cream-and-nose-tickle prank on a sleeping Wolf.

The forth page was made up of a picture of Olimar, Mr. Game & Watch, and R.O.B. doing crazy things. The other photo was of Pit, Ness, and Lucas, all of whom were smiling.

On the following page, the first of the three photos was of Ike and Snake working out, the second was of Nana and Popo eating sno-cones, and the third was of DK, Diddy, and Yoshi making funny faces.

The sixth page had photographs of Kirby and Meta Knight dueling, Captain Falcon, Samus, and Sonic playing volleyball, and Ganondorf looking down at Wario and smirking menacingly.

The final page with any photos on it only had one, and it was of Peach and Fox. Peach was hugging Fox, who had a guitar in his hand.

Peach remembered all of these moments, but none as vividly as the one with Fox.

* * *

"Aw, come on!" Peach pleaded. "It'll be loads of fun." Peach was in the process of trying to convince her dear friend in signing up for a benefit concert that she was running herself.

"I don't know, Peach," Fox argued. "I'm just not good enough, y'know?" Fox had been singing for quite some time now, and even with the usual compliments, he never thought he was any good.

"Don't be silly," she countered. "I've heard you perform before. You're beyond fantastic." She gently grasped Fox's upper arm in reassurance.

Fox let out a soft sigh. "Okay, I'll do it.

To make a long concert short, Fox's performance of Thirty Seconds To Mars' "City of Angels" was, by far, the stand-out of the entire benefit.

* * *

Her private flashback was interrupted by another knock at the door.

"The door's open!" She shouted to the door. To her fabulous surprise, at the door, were her best friends walked in: Zelda and Samus.

"Happy birthday!" They both said as they ran to embrace Peach.

"Oh, thank you," Peach said, breaking away from the group hug, "but where's everyone else?"

"Look outside," Zelda responded, pointing to the balcony. Peach slowly made her way to the balcony, and sure enough, every participant was in a group looking up at her; from Bowser to Young Link.

"Happy birthday!" They all shouted. As Peach examined the group more carefully, she noticed that two key members were missing: Mario and Luigi.

"Wait, where are Mario and Luigi?" Peach asked Samus and Zelda. Peach found it curious that her own boyfriend was M.I.A. at her birthday party.

"Haven't seen 'em all day," Zelda responded.

"As a matter of fact, I haven't seen Daisy, either," Samus added. "I wonder where those three are, and what they're..." Samus was then interrupted by three nervous knocks.

"It must be Luigi," Peach quitely said to her friends, the she shifted her audience to the being on the other side of the door. "Come in!"

Sure enough, it was Luigi, but for an unknown reason, he was crying. "...Peach? May I...may I talk to you in pri-pri-private for a m-m-m-minute?" Due to something being obviously wrong with Luigi, Zelda and Samus left the room as fast as they could.

As soon as the door was closed, Luigi rushed over to Peach, sat her down on the bed, and whispered in her ear, "I...I walked in on Daisy and Mario in bed together..." When he finished his secret, Luigi sped out of the princess' room.

The lonliness was quickly filled again by Samus and Zelda, who were both wearing confused looks.

"What happened, Peach?" Zelda asked, and her and Samus sat on either side of Peach.

Peach looked down at her dainty feet, tears starting to run down her face. "...Hecheatedonmewith Daisy..."

"What about Daisy?" Samus nervously asked, either waiting for an "are you stupid" moment or a mental breakdown.

"HE CHEATED ON ME WITH DAISY!" Peach screamed. The disbelief, betrayal, and hatred were visible in her steady stream of tears. She stood up, bolted for the door, and rushed out of her room to run. Where she would run was unknown, even to herself. But then...

_THUD!_ Peach was knocked down to the red velvet carpet.

"Oh, Peach!" A voice said. "I'm so sorry! Here, let me help you up." The princess recognized the voice as her dear friend, Fox.

"Oh, thanks..." Peach semi-whispered as Fox aided her in standing up.

"Something's the matter," Fox bluntly stated, "and don't try to pull anything over me, because I'll know."

"Is it really that obvious?" Peach whimpered. Everything had just come in a rush...a shockingly powerful rush.

"First off, a princess should never go anywhere without a proper escort," Peach had forgotten what a gentleman Fox was, "and second, I passed Luigi a few moments ago. He was having one of his 'this-is-the-worst-thing-that-could-have-happened- to-me' fits. I could smell your perfume around him, so I figured he just came from your room."

Peach chuckled slightly. "Vanilla..."

"...With a hint of sweet pea," Fox interrupted, gently locking hands with the princess. "Now, how about we talk things over with a little tea, just like how we first met."


	2. Part 1: Chapter 2

Fox lead Peach back into her room, hand in hand, where the worried pair of Samus and Zelda were sitting on the princess' bed, anxiously awaiting their friend's return.

"If you two don't mind," Fox began, focusing his gaze on the galactic bounty and the princess of Hyrule, "would you go check on Luigi? I'm worried about him."

"We wouldn't mind at all," Zelda responded. She and Samus rose from their places, gave Peach reassuring smiles, and rushed out of Peach's bedroom in Luigi's direction.

Fox then motioned the Mushroom Kingdom's princess out to the balcony; she rushed to the railing and looked down at her own birthday celebrations.

"It's all for you, Princess," Fox voiced with a tone of endearment after joining her. "The balloons, the streamers, that street fair that's happening this evening..."

"The Kingdom Walk," Peach interrupted, "but how is this supposed to lighten my mood?!" Her voice was a lot angrier than she intended.

"It may not be my business," the Star Fox commander commenced, "but what happened?"

Peach proceeded to tell her dear friend and, in this moment, saviour, about Mario's unfaithful deed. By the time she was finished telling her story, two steady rivers of tears had started to flow down Peach's face.

"Mario doesn't know what he's missing," Fox stated. "I mean, who wouldn't be absolutely head-over-heels for you? You're rather beautiful, you care about everyone you meet, you're the best conversationalist in the galaxy, you're an excellent...friend." Fox gently bit his tongue, then let out a sigh. "You're the greatest friend anyone could ever wish for."

Peach looked into the vulpine eyes that belonged to the only guy that had seen her this vulnerable. They were the most calming shade of green, yet there was a sliver of pain visible.

"Is something wrong?" Peach asked, placing a gentle hand onto one of Fox's own. "I can see it in your eyes."

Fox was silent for what seemed like an eternity. "It's nothing, really," he finally answered, then quickly changed the subject. "Let's get the others and enjoy your birthday."

As if on cue, Zelda, Samus, and Luigi walked through the doors connecting the balcony to Peach's bedroom. Luigi had stopped crying, but his eyes were still puffy and red.

After a small assurance that everything was okay, the group of five exited the Mushroom Kingdom's princess' room, traveled down several staircases, and finally made it outside to the festivities.

Around every corner, Peach would get a "Happy birthday" and, quite often, a present, especially if the person in question knew her well enough or was a loyal subject to her, but present or no present, she would get a reassuring smile.

"Thank you," she would say, "but you didn't really need to. I have enough as it is." Her modesty was ignored, however, as each individual would hold out the gift until Peach physically accepted it. By the time the group had arrived at the main fountain where all of the competitors of the "Smash Bros." tournaments were, the princess' friends were each carrying a mass of wrapped boxes. Even Peach herself had enough that she had to peer over her stacks of mystery gifts to see where she was going.

"Happy birthday, Peach!" The majority of the Smashers greeted as she, Fox, Zelda, Luigi, and Samus set down all of the presents.

"That's a lot of presents you got there, Peach," Falco exclaimed, closely observing the vast amount of colourfully wrapped boxes, added with the occasional envelope here and there.

Peach didn't respond. She noticed something, or rather, someone, who wasn't in the crowd when she looked down from her balcony.

Mario. Her boyfriend, the cheater. Her lover, the backstabber. Her Romeo, the Benedict Arnold.

Tears were caught in her throat. She didn't want to cry; everyone else would want to know what was wrong. Yes, Peach was extremely upset with Mario, but her too-kind nature didn't want the rest of the Smashers to gang up on him and make him regret what he did the hard way. Especially Bowser.

Before she could let out a whimper, Peach felt a gentle hand on her shoulder. She turned her head, and locked gazes with Fox. His eyes were witnessing her pain; feeling it, even. Peach tried to pull on a fake smile, but Fox was aware, for his eyes spoke to her. "I'll always be here," they said. "It's okay to not be okay. These people are your friends, and they deserve to know."

Peach looked at the other "Smash Bros." contestants, who all had concerned looks on their faces, inhaled deeply, and said, "Mario cheated on me. With Daisy."


End file.
